{"id":39713,"date":"2025-09-03T00:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/39713\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T00:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:08:10","slug":"tamil-nadus-emergency-care-centers-successfully-reunite-over-3000-homeless-mentally-ill-individuals-with-families-chennai-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/39713\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamil Nadu’s Emergency Care Centers Successfully Reunite Over 3,000 Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals with Families | Chennai News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TamilThose rescued are put through psychological assessments It was 2pm when Abdul Azim at the Nannilam mosque in Thiruvarur received a call from social worker Kanagaraj at the Emergency Care and Recovery Centre (ECRC) in Tirunelveli. He was asked if he knew of a person named Mahesh Kumar in Nannilam who had gone missing a year ago. After a long pause, when Abdul finally replied \u201cYes,\u201d the entire ECRC healthcare team, including doctors, social workers, nurses, security staff, and Mahesh Kumar himself, who had once been homeless and mentally ill, breathed a huge sigh of relief. They had finally traced Mahesh\u2019s home, just two blocks away from the mosque.Mahesh had been suffering from a severe form of psychosis, where he lost touch with reality. About eight months ago, he was found on the Anaikulam roads of Tirunelveli. Abdul, his best friend at the Nannilam mosque in Thiruvarur, was the only person Mahesh remembered once he slowly began speaking again. It had taken months of repeated attempts by social workers to get him to open up. \u201cMahesh\u2019s face lit up when he saw Abdul. I\u2019ve never seen a man smile like that, and he even shed a tear \u2014 he couldn\u2019t emote earlier. Honestly, beyond my salary, it is moments like these that keep me going,\u201d says social worker Kanagaraj, who played a key role in reuniting Mahesh, along with thousands of other homeless mentally ill people, with their families.It is stories like these that unfold at every ECRC, set up under the National Health Mission (NHM) to reunite the homeless mentally ill with their families. Tamil Nadu has 17 such centres, half of them run by the govt, the rest in partnership with NGOs such as The Banyan in Chennai.Since their inception seven years ago, Tamil Nadu being the first state in India to launch such centres, ECRCs have reunited 3,065 people with their families. The highest numbers have come from the Theni and Kallakurichi centres (798 and 495 reunions), while urban districts such as Chennai and Thiruvallur reported lower numbers at 89 and 31.Patients, mostly men and women above 20 years, have been reunited not only across Tamil Nadu but as far as Kolar in Karnataka, Halamkonda in Telangana, and even parts of Odisha and West Bengal. \u201cThe first thing we do is try to understand the language the patient speaks. Many times, it\u2019s a language we don\u2019t know. Our college students from the Northeast, studying in Chennai, have helped us a few times,\u201d says Dr Karthik Deivanayagam, psychiatrist with NHM.When it comes to identifying potentially homeless people with mental health issues, ECRCs rely on social workers who spot them during rounds, police memos, or cases reported by good samaritans. \u201cThe first sign we look for is loss of what we call \u2018insight\u2019. In psychological terms, this means lack of self-care, loss of awareness about surroundings, or excessive talking over a long period. When our team spots such people, they report it to us.\u201dThe next step is building rapport with the patient. A team of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, nurses and attenders works towards getting them to do just one thing \u2014open up. \u201cWe also give them a small welcome self-care kit upon arrival, with soap, a comb, a new set of clothes, and other items. The idea is to give them some excitement in life again,\u201d says psychiatrist Yazhisai Meikandan from the Pudukottai centre.Once rapport is built, patients undergo diagnostic assessments through psychological testing scales. Their fine motor skills such as writing, and gross motor skills such as walking and running, are also tested. \u201cWe ask patients to throw a ball into a circular opening or walk along lines on the floor to check where they stand,\u201d says Yazhisai. The most common diagnoses are chronic schizophrenia, psychosis, and manic or depressive disorders for which patients undergo pharmacological and psychiatric treatment. Some recover within weeks, while others take longer. \u201cWe also have occupational therapy, where we teach patients gardening, knitting, or cooking to help them reintegrate into society,\u201d says Dr Karthik.One of the patients, Ahil Krishna, originally from Halamkonda in Telangana, discovered a passion for knitting while at the Pudukottai centre. \u201cI was just a \u201810th fail\u2019, but now I\u2019m a caterer in my region. I\u2019m doing well, earning \u20b930,000 a month. I still knit. It helps me find my sense of calm,\u201d he says over a phone call from Halamkonda.Once patients show signs of recovery, the search for their families and hometowns begins. If they have an Aadhaar card, the address is traced through it. If not, social workers try to get details by talking to them. \u201cThey first say Madurai, then Pudukottai, then Villupuram, and only later the correct location. By then, six months may have passed,\u201d says Kanagaraj. Sometimes patients recall landmarks such as rivers or places of worship, as in Mahesh Kumar\u2019s case. Social workers visit the spot to verify the address and begin speaking to families. \u201cIn some cases, families reunite immediately. In others, they say no, either because they believed the person was dead and have moved on emotionally, or because they lack the finances to take care of them,\u201d says Yazhisai.When the location is confirmed, the patient connects with their family over a video call. If things go well, the reunion takes place within a couple of months. Even after discharge, social workers stay in touch with local govt hospitals to ensure patients are doing well and receiving medication on time. \u201cThe best thing about ECRCs is that they are holistic centres with a sustainable, long-term approach. We don\u2019t leave our patients hanging after discharging them. Also, our treatment is free,\u201d says Arun Thamburaj, NHM Tamil Nadu\u2019s mission director.There are two possible outcomes for every ECRC patient \u2014 successful reunion with their family or transfer to a state-run rehab home. Earlier this year, Tamilarasi, who had been reunited through the Tirunelveli centre, received a call from the team, and TOI. Mistaking it for a call to bring her back, she frantically hung up, saying she was happy at home with her two children. \u201cThis is the impact of our treatment. Patients no longer want to leave their home or be homeless. We change that cognition,\u201d says Arun.If a reunion doesn\u2019t happen, patients are sent to rehab homes; 902 have been accommodated this way so far. These homes recreate the environment of a family, with the same team as an ECRC but more recreational activities and attenders to care for them. \u201cWe find their home or give them a home. We believe that nobody in this world is really homeless,\u201d says Dr Karthik.<\/p>\n

Districts with the Most Reunions<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Theni \u2013 798<\/li>\n
  2. Kallakurichi \u2013 495<\/li>\n
  3. Thiruppur \u2013 360<\/li>\n
  4. Thiruvannamalai \u2013 334<\/li>\n
  5. Ranipet \u2013 255<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Districts with the Least Reunions<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Krishnagiri \u2013 35<\/li>\n
    2. Thiruvallur \u2013 31<\/li>\n
    3. Tuticorin \u2013 32<\/li>\n
    4. Tirunelveli \u2013 54<\/li>\n
    5. Erode \u2013 65<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      (Source NHM Tamil Nadu)Email your feedbackwith name and address tosouthpole.toi@timesofindia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Those rescued are put through psychological assessments It was 2pm when Abdul Azim at the Nannilam mosque in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[7625,7624,7626,7627,18,30376,135,30374,30375,19,17,167,502,30373,30378,30377,7628],"class_list":{"0":"post-39713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-chennai-latest-news","9":"tag-chennai-news","10":"tag-chennai-news-live","11":"tag-chennai-news-today","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-emergency-care-and-recovery-centre","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-homeless-rescue-tamil-nadu","16":"tag-how-to-rescue-homeless-tamilnadu","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-mental-health","20":"tag-mentalhealth","21":"tag-nhm","22":"tag-rehab-tamil-nadu","23":"tag-rescue-mentally-ill","24":"tag-today-news-chennai"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}